Close to Christmas Snippets

1. My blogging has been quite sporadic this month. My Mom has been in town from Florida since December 3rd, and will be staying with us through New Years Eve. She's been an absolute slave driver. She's all, "Chas, do your laundry! Now!" And "Lets organize your entire home! Yesterday!" And when she isn't cracking the whip, she's been complaining about how cold it is here. The woman was born and bred in the Midwest. What did she think she was going to find in the middle of December? I'm just glad she'll be with my Sister when the true cold front hits tonight- I believe I heard talk of temperatures such as "20 below with the windchill." This is February weather, in December, and quite frankly, I'm scared half to death of what February will actually bring.

My mom has actually been a giant help with both the boys and all of the home projects she has helped me accomplish. She's helped me get a giant jump on a good 75% of my eternally expanding house hold project list. I'm ahead on my New Year's Resolutions. I'm not sure which scares me more- that, or the thought of February in the greater Chicagoland area.

2. Just before Thanksgiving, Critter wound up with an ear infection. He weighed in at 13.3 pounds (at 9 months) at the doctor's office. He was 10 pounds when he was born. According to the doctor, in order to be in the (lower) 10th percentile for his age, he should weigh at least 17 pounds. So I received doctor's orders to fatten him up like a Thanksgiving Turkey. Now, don't get me wrong. He eats. When it comes to his food, he has always been a little piggy. For the last few weeks, I have pretty much tripled his food quantity, and feed him until I can see it oozing out his cute little Critter ears. It does appear to be working, however, we may have to file for Bankruptcy next week. That boy is eating us out of house and home for sure.

3. Right about now I am wishing we hadn't changed our plans and had left for Florida today as originally planned. (We brought my mom here instead) That cold front previously mentioned is scheduled to arrive at approximately 6pm this evening. I can GUARANTEE YOU that at approximately 6:01 pm I will be pulling my hair, kicking myself, and screaming like a madwoman (akin to that scene from Liar Liar when he beats the crap out of himself in the bathroom at the courthouse). What were we thinking?

4. I am horribly behind on everything Christmas related. I have a total of 2 presents purchased, and they are only stocking stuffers. My tree did, however, go up yesterday afternoon, so at least I can say I have accomplished SOMETHING. Bonehead and I will begin our Christmas shopping fiasco this afternoon, so I will soon require large doses of Starbucks and maybe a happy pill or two. I try to abide by the phrase, "It's not holiday spirit if you have to slap someone upside the head with it."

5. I have had a very difficult time finding the above mentioned holiday spirit this year. I blogged previously about my permanent grouchiness, and although it is improving it hasn't quite flown the coop yet. I did, however, have a moment with Critter this morning. Mom and Bonehead left to take Smooch to his wrestling tournament this morning, leaving just myself and Critter at home. I popped in a little Christmas music, and Critter blessed me with an early morning snuggle as we danced before our newly erected and fully lit Christmas tree. For a moment alone with my son, my worries and stresses melted away. I kissed his little soft cheek and smelled his sweet little baby smell and for at least one moment on this cold December day, my heart found its joy.

I Declare Myself Queen of the Snippets- A Week in Review

As proud residents of "The Land of Lincoln", Bonehead and I have had to face challenges this week that, quite frankly, we never thought we'd see. It seems we were both accosted (adopted?) by a 3.5 ft tumbleweed this week. It chose to make its presence known to Bonehead at about 5am by blowing its way up onto his windshield just as he turned his headlights on in our driveway. Since he's mentioned it no less than 3 times since, I can safely assume there was almost a small wet mess in the driver's seat of his car. It chose to (accost) greet me in a slightly more friendly fashion by waiting just on the other side of the garage I have to walk around as I was leaving, causing me to scream like a little girl and almost drop Critter, my diaper bag, and my precious Starbucks gift card. Thankfully, I kept a calm head and was able to protect the card. I'm beginning to wonder if I should purchase Christmas gifts for it because it seems to be sticking around for a bit. It's still sitting in our driveway, and has been the cause of our most recent Neurotic Household Discussion: What the heck DO you do with a 3.5 ft tumbleweed?


Critter has begun another round of teething, this time with a cough I might have to break down and take him to the doctor for tomorrow. I know as long as the copious amounts of fluid flowing from his nose are clear he has no infection, but his cough sounds really "congesty", which leads me to believe I may have to take him for his first "my baby is sick" doctor's appointment. 9 months really isn't that bad. I believe Smooch made it just over a year before he had to have his first round of antibiotics. And there I go again. I should really stop comparing the differences in my sons, they are truly night and day anyway.


We have scrapped our plans for a Christmas family road trip to Florida, opting instead to fly my Mom home for the holidays because, well, who really wants to spend 20 hours in a car with a 10 month old? My Mom recently had the unfortunate luck of being another victim of our crappy economy and lost her job, so my sister and I decided that our Christmas present to her should be a plane ticket up north so she can have some holiday cheer in the form of grandchildren. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that her daughters miss her. Nothing at all. She'll be with us for darn near a full month, and I'm starting to realize I didn't take into consideration she will no doubt be grumbling about being cold the entire time. Ear plugs are on my grocery list for the week.


Smoochie has his first teacher crush. He's always talking about "Mrs. S." and how he gets to eat lunch with her once a week because he never gets his paw card pulled in class for misbehaving. You can see him light up when he talks about her. It's pretty cute, and it keeps him working hard in school, so really, it's not a bad thing. A teacher crush is nothing like a girlfriend, which I fully intend to scare away all of. Which reminds me, I should get to work channeling Marie Barone.


Bonehead has his last CycloCross race of the season today. I will be more than happy to get his bike out of the back of our minivan so I don't have to load the groceries up on the side of the van anymore. It has become really inconvenient to avoid kneeling on the bread and eggs in order to buckle and unbuckle Critter in his car seat. I am making the family go hours early for this race so I can watch the women race for the first time. I'm actually a little bit excited about that. After 4pm today, I can put the cowbells away until next season.